Speakers from the organization Invisible Children, Inc. will be discussing the ongoing war in northern Uganda and their efforts to bring awareness to the plight of those living in regions of conflict from noon to 1 p.m. Monday in Klingenstein Lounge.

Sponsored by Create For Social Change, representatives of Invisible Children will screen the organization’s newest documentary, “The Rescue.”

Before the event, the organization’s first documentary, “Invisible Children: The Rough Cut,” will be screened at 7 p.m. Thursday in CNS 112 and at 2 p.m. Sunday in Textor 101.  

“It’s a cause people need to know about because no one sees what's going on there," said freshman Beth Henderson, organizer of the event. "The problems [in Uganda] aren't really talked about that much."

Invisible Children is a humanitarian organization whose existence was sparked by interest in the documentary "Invisible Children: The Rough Cut." Filmed in 2003 by three young men from Southern California — Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole — the documentary highlights the tragic realities of northern Uganda's child soldiers and night commuters.

Eugene Kim, Invisible Children’s east coast event coordinator, said not enough global attention has been given to the conflict in northern Uganda.

“This is an issue that is such a huge tragedy but the world hasn't really recognized it,” he said, “Something needs to be done.”

Officially a nonprofit organization since 2005, Invisible Children has raised more than $15 million to help those in northern Uganda. The organization has also facilitated scholarships for 700 children and helped survivors get into university programs.

“You realize there’s kids that would be in third and fourth grade ... they should be playing baseball and watching cartoons and instead are forced into a situation where they're ripped from their families and often forced to kill them,” Kim said, “It’s just a tragedy and shouldn't have happened to anyone”

Invisible Children has also created programs to teach survivors how to run their own businesses. Kim said the goal is to help the people of northern Uganda in such a way that three to five years from now, they are able to sustain themselves.

Kim said the people are looking toward life after the conflict and it’s part of Invisible Children’s mission to help them.

“We're an organization working towards assisting people in northern Uganda,” he said. “[We’re working] to achieving sustainable peace.”     

Since its release, the first film has brought international attention to what was referred to as “the biggest forgotten, neglected humanitarian emergency in the world today,” by Jan Egeland, United Nations under secretary general of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator at the time.

The ongoing 23-year conflict in northern Uganda between the Lord’s Resistance Army, a guerilla rebel group and the Government of Uganda has left nearly 2 million innocents displaced. It is the mission of Invisible Children to seek sustainable solutions and to encourage peace.

Sarah Chaplin, one of the roadies speaking Monday, will talk about what is happening in northern Uganda and why Invisible Children’s cause is important.

“The conflict in northern Uganda is unique in the way that this war has the children caught up in the middle — a war where the children are both the weapon and the victim,” she said. “We call the children of northern Uganda and others in eastern Congo and southern Sudan affected by the war invisible children because their stories are not told. The world is blind to the atrocities happening in East Africa and we are here to try and tell their stories.”

Filmmakers were invited to peace talks between the LRA and GoU in 2008. Deep in the bush where the LRA was located, these filmmakers interviewed child soldiers and filmed the documentary “The Rescue.”   

“It highlights the current situation of the war and how it's moved out of northern Uganda and into eastern Congo and southern Sudan,” Chaplin said.

The film also gives a brief history of Invisible Children as well as the conflict in northern Uganda, so people who aren't familiar with the organization or conflict will still understand.

According to Kim, the film focuses on the plight of child soldiers.

“The [Child soldiers] are normal kids that like playing soccer,” Kim said. “They aren't ruthless killers. They're innocent kids who don't really want to be there.”

Chaplin said she hopes the event will bring awareness to the campus and community.

“By bring[ing] about hope for Uganda's future, Invisible Children is also transforming the way our generation thinks and looks at the idea of humanitarian aid,” Chaplin said.

According to Kim, students and society must recognize their responsibility toward others and realize they can effect change.

“We really believe that this movement it going to end this war,” Kim said.